Rory McIlroy revealed he survived a Jordan Spieth onslaught even before the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship began, and was hoping for a similar result on Sunday evening after 72 holes of showdown with the hottest player in golf.
The Northern Irishman, who starts his new season at the first leg of European Tour’s Desert Swing, was taking part in a promotional event for the sponsors that involved him and Spieth playing a hole at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club on ‘GolfBoards’ – a motorized scooter.
McIlroy said Spieth nearly took him out with a near head-on collision at 14 miles per hour.
“It was quite competitive,” McIlroy said. “Actually, Jordan nearly took me out. We collided halfway down the fairway. Thankfully, I didn’t fall off.”
An unlikely accident last year – this time in his own backyard as he played football with his friends – caused him to break his ankle and disrupt what was turning into a sensational season with two wins in three weeks on the PGA Tour.
McIlroy did end 2015 on a high when he won the DP World Tour Championship in November, and after an extended break of two months, is eager to begin his new year with another win.
The former world No1 feels being drawn to play alongside Spieth, who is coming off a dominating eight-shot win in the PGA Tour’s Tournament of Champions, and world No6 Rickie Fowler, is just the start he needs for the season.
“It’s been great. It was a nice break over Christmas and new year,” said the 26-year-old McIlroy. “I felt like I needed it mentally and physically a little bit. So it was nice to take that extended break and come back feeling really refreshed and excited to go.
“On Thursday morning, it’s my first competitive shot in a couple of months. To tee up alongside those guys…it’s excitement. There’s a buzz about it.
“I’ve said this before, I don’t think there’s any better place to start the year than here in Abu Dhabi with the weather, the golf course, the field that HSBC is able to put together.
Will be having a few clashes with these boys this year! The race has started at #ADGolfChamps #AnyonesGame pic.twitter.com/xGkw3XyzHu
— Rory Mcilroy (@McIlroyRory) January 19, 2016“It was sort of the same last year in Abu Dhabi with Rickie and the previous couple of years it was with Tiger. You’re teeing off the first round of your season and it feels like you’re right into the thick of things at the start.
“It’s a real competitive start to the year, and I feel like Abu Dhabi has really helped me start the year quickly and well over the past few years, and hopefully that’s the same case this year.”
Spieth is statistically the best player in the field but the four-time Abu Dhabi runner-up McIlroy said it would be a mistake to just focus on the American.
“I don’t play this game to put down markers,” McIlroy said. “I want to play my best and I don’t have to just beat Jordan this week. I have to beat another 140 odd guys.
“So it would be foolish of me to think that that’s all that my competition was, because I think it would be an injustice to every other player that’s in the field. There’s so much talent on the Tour and there’s so much depth that if you forget about everyone else that could win the tournament, it’s not really smart to do that.
“But I want to play well this week and if that means laying down a marker to someone or to the rest of the field, then that’s great. But I just want to try to play my best and hopefully win this thing. I’ve had four runners-up and I’ve been close a couple times. Hopefully, I can change that this week.”
Asked what his secret of doing so well on the National course was, McIlroy added: “I don’t think I want to be giving too much away!
“But it’s pretty straightforward; you have got to keep it on the fairways, the rough is usually pretty thick and the par threes are pretty tough.
“You need to take advantage of the par fives – most of the par fives are reachable – and if you can do that and pick up a few shots here, you should do OK.”
